Punching in Muay Thai

I'm primarily a kicker and clincher, although I practice boxing I never have been able to use my punching effectively in modified Thai rules sparing. Most of my punching is used to get myself into the clinch or to set up low/body kicks.

Well what I’m really worried about is using my weapons in self defense, I can't imagine myself doing body kicks in an actual fight ( in the ring on the other hand I do tons). We don't practice slipping, bobbing or weaving as much in Muay Thai because most of the time you'll slip into a kick or a knee. So instead we block and parry a lot more. But blocking, parrying and clinching is so much easier than gloves.

Sure I probably will be able to clinch, maybe block or parry, but without gloves those task are so much more difficult to achieve.

All I have left are those few simple punches!

But in a fight, who the hell knows what I’ll do. Am I training incorrectly? When sparring, All I can envision are kicks, my instinct is to kick, punch to set it up and then kick, if they try and punch me, I low kick, I punch them to punch me and when they do that I body kick them once they are exposed.

If they punch me again I parry/block it off and clinch knee . Never do I punch back hard to hurt to the guy, not even in my smoker fight IT WAS NOTHING BUT KICKING AND CLINCHING!

I do very well in sparing with my current strategies, but will these strategies help me in a real fight?

Dude, if you care so much about real fights, why the hell are you training in sports? You should be getting your conceal and carry lisence, learning some small arms and knife fighting, and go to your local gun and knife store.

A clinch is a great defensive tool. It takes away 4 of your opponents weapons (His two fists and two legs), and if you have a good clinch, you can either throw/slam your opponent or knee the **** outta them.

I primarily use my hands when I spar in Muay Thai and I kick almost everyones ass at my club. I like to mix punches with kicks, inside leg kick then jab...followed up by a combination. But then again I´m a tall guy and you are a midget, so you won´t be able to use your reach as well as I do.

RogueSamurai has a good suggestion. If you're THAT concerned about your punching, join a Boxing club on the side. Just bear in mind that some of your body mechanics for punching in Boxing & MuayThai are different.

In Boxing, you often will drop your weight and SIT DOWN into your punches. In MuayThai, you usually remain more upright and punch more with your shoulder than your entire body.

But I also agree with what the others said too...

#1: If you're so concerned about 't3h str33t', then enroll in a program that addresses that. Even though MuayThai has a lot of tools that will translate into a practical self-defense system, it does not typically address these scenarios. It focuses on one-on-one matches that take place in a ring with a referree, judges, coaches, and available medical staff.

#2: As others have pointed out, MuayThai has 8 weapons. There are CHAMPIONS who only excel in some of them. Look at Diesel Noi, who is arguably one of the greatest modern MuayThai champions. Yeah, he *could* kick and punch, but c'mon, he was all about clinch knees. He fought with clinch knees almost to exclusion of everything else! Anawat, who is another current big-named fighter and champ is a hardcore puncher. In the fights I've seen, he often ignores his other weapons as he sets up for his Boxing attack, which he usually uses to success and knocks his opponent out.

The bottom line is that if you are predominantly interested in the sport of MuayThai, then being a good boxer isn't necessary because you have 6 other weapons to compensate.